The 2010 World Savers Awards: Latin America

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THE BIG NEWS One of the hottest topics at the Harvard Business School is “integrated reporting”—companies’ financial and social performance are tabulated in one holistic report. This means that social responsibility is considered as important as profitability. They may not know the B–school jargon, but a number of small, inspired Latin American companies are already adopting the approach. Lapa Ríos Ecolodge is the pride and joy of Hans Pfister, CEO of Cayuga (Overall Winner, Small Hotel Chains), because the hotel, on Costa Rica’s rain forest–covered Osa Peninsula, has helped people to change their ways. “We gave the local people the opportunity to make a living other than by illegal hunting and logging,” he says. “Employees tell their neighbors, ‘Don’t hunt anymore—you’re jeopardizing my livelihood.’” As a result, the area’s big cats, monkeys, and macaws are rebounding. Guests can help researchers set cameras that track the wild cats’ behavior and population density. Cayuga’s newest property, the nine–room Jícaro Island Lodge, in Nicaragua, built using Rainforest Alliance–certified wood, has a filtration system that allows guests to drink the tap water (no more plastic bottles!). Cayuga–managed hotels invest two to five percent of their revenue in social–responsibility projects, including solar panels that power one school’s only computer.

THE CRUISE There is a right way and a wrong way to visit Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, where the fragile ecosystem is threatened by mass tourism. Metropolitan Touring (Honorable Mention, Poverty Relief) is doing it right, helping found the industry’s first fund dedicated to protecting the environment. Metropolitan also supports a bakery and local fishermen.

THE TRIP If you’re going on a tour with Gap Adventures (Co–Runner–Up, Poverty Relief), part of your money will be applied to its incredible community projects. In Peru, Gap supports a women’s weaving collective along the Inca Trail and employs its own porters to ensure that they earn a fair wage.

THE VISIONARY CEO Alex Khajavi is majority investor and the social conscience at Costa Rica’s national carrier, Nature Air (Overall Winner, Airlines). The world’s first carbon–neutral airline offsets emissions via reforestation and sends teachers into villages on horseback. “Our goal,” Khajavi says, “is to raise the GDP in the poor areas where we fly.”